If you’ve ever made a yeast bread you know the multitude of ways the process can go wrong. It’s not something you can mix up quickly and throw in the oven. It takes time. If you rush or don’t pay attention to details, you end up with a flat, heavy bread. Use old yeast and the bread doesn’t rise. Use water that is too hot, and the yeast is killed. Use water that is too cold, and the yeast doesn’t activate. Add salt directly to the yeast, yup, you guessed it-dead yeast. Don’t knead the dough enough and the gluten doesn’t form, add too much flour and the yeast can’t lift the weight of the flour. While Paul Simon sings of “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” there’s probably an equal number of ways to making an inedible loaf of bread.
The bread that Jesus offers isn’t as temperamental as homemade bread but is much more powerful. It does more than nourish the physical body. It feeds our spiritual body. While making earthly bread requires us to be patient, organized, and thorough, Jesus doesn’t require any virtues from us to receive the bread of life.
The easy part is eating the bread. The challenge is to prepare ourselves beforehand and let it work on our souls and transform us into being more like Christ. Usually, I’m lost in thought prior to the Eucharist, and then suddenly I’m walking out of the pew and in line. Then I return to my pew and become distracted by: others who are receiving communion, a couple of friends walking down the aisle, a cute outfit that I see and might like to wear, or an adorable child wandering back to their seat. There is barely anytime to reflect and pray. The Eucharist shouldn’t be a mindless habit that we participate in every Sunday but approached with a desire to be strengthened in our resolve to be Christ like, to be still in God’s presence and, and to be thankful. Pope Francis also reminds us that our encounter with Christ in the Eucharist is not just about ourselves, rather the Eucharist "gives us the courage to encounter others, to go out of ourselves and to open ourselves to others with love."
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